Rainshadow Recording is changing its concert venue, as it hosts its latest set of musical artists.

When the Nathaniel Talbot Trio performs in Port Townsend on Friday, Aug. 30, joined by fellow Whidbey Island singer-songwriter Timothy Hull as their opening act, it will be at the Rainshadow Recording Studio, in Building 315 at 200 Battery Way in Fort Worden State Park. That’s a shift from the Palindrome where Rainshadow performances have been held of late. 

Talbot described himself as a frequent visitor to Port Townsend, where he enjoys “hanging out,” as well as a veteran collaborator with Matt Miner and Everett Moran of Rainshadow Recording.

“I’ve known Matt for close to 20 years, back when we were both in Portland, Oregon,” Talbot said. “And I first met Everett before he and Matt had teamed up, back when he was hosting concerts in his recording studio.”

Talbot appreciates the opportunity to return to such an intimate performing venue, which he sees as well-suited to the complexities of his band’s relatively broad and experimental “sonic palette.”

When Talbot isn’t running a vegetable farm and seed company on Whidbey Island, he’s either performing as a duo with Keegan Harshman on upright bass, or as a trio with Harshman plus Owen Thayer on pedal steel and electric guitar.

Although Talbot began learning to play the piano when he was seven and started a punk rock band at 13, he soon steeped himself in the guitar-driven sounds of Kelly Joe Phelps, Elliott Smith, Bill Frisell and other Pacific Northwest “heroes.”

Talbot attributes much of his lyrical storytelling to being “rooted in the earth and American traditionalism,” having been raised in the wooded foothills southeast of Portland, with their “big firs and wide farmscapes,” while his fingerstyle on the acoustic guitar derives from his drive toward more intricate and “highly arranged” instrumentation.

“I feel like the songs should speak for themselves,” said Talbot, who nonetheless credited the natural and agricultural settings, within which he’s matured, with providing much of his songs’ imagery, as well as “the mental space and quietude” necessary for contemplative composition. “As a musician, you always hope to make connections with your audiences.”

While Talbot acknowledged how much of his music is rooted in what could be considered part of the folk genre, Seattle Weekly wrote that his work has been “challenging what folk music is capable of.”

Talbot cited his output as both drawing and departing from what could be regarded as the Pacific Northwest “sound,” by striving to bridge any gaps between his performances and his listeners with “universal themes and experiences.” That is inspired in part by the physical and emotional exhaustion of working the land, albeit expressed in “joyful and uplifting” ways.

“My music recognizes its roots without being tied to them,” Talbot said. “It stems from tradition, but takes off in a different direction.”

Miner described Talbot’s music as having “dirt under its fingernails, the product of decades of hard work and crafting,” resulting in American roots music that “combines the soulful edge of tradition with the Pacific Northwest’s legacy of freedom and innovation.”

Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. concert on Aug. 30 are available at ticketstorm.com online, or at the door to the Rainshadow Recording Studio.